I am the builder in my family. I’m Mrs. Fix-It; a role I take on willingly. Our friends laugh because the garage full of tools are mine that I bought and picked out. I buy the wood. I stain it. My house is a hodgepodge of IKEA furniture, doll houses, chests of drawers, and other furniture that I have built myself. My husband works very hard for our family, but he is not a fixer. He can do it, but it’s not really his thing.
Being an engineer, he is very meticulous in his way of approaching things. He wants to figure it out, rather than go step by step with instructions. He also works very hard at his job, sometimes so where he’s gone for months at a time. That leaves the fixing to me.
Now, before you say I’m emasculating him, a term we have heard often in our 8 years together, I have some things to say about all of this ::
1) My grandfather was a wood shop teacher in LCISD.
I literally grew up in his wood shop, chopping wood and learning to cut things. Cutting boards, pig shaped pencil holders. You name it, we built it or watched him build it. He had very old school equipment in his shop that my dad learned from and taught us. My husband didn’t have that background. He’d rather go strum on his guitar rather than get hot outside in front of a saw. I also have a bit more patience for things like this.
2) My daughters are watching.
I need my daughters to learn the lessons I learned growing up. I have an amazing father who continues to do anything we need done. He loves helping around the house, but the best part for him is when we build stuff together. Sometimes I’ll start a project and my oldest will say, “Should I call Pops?? Wouldn’t it be easier if Pops did this??” Of course it would be easier, but I want my daughters to see that they can do anything. It doesn’t matter what their gender or sexual organs are, they can literally do anything {usually with the help of a nail gun}.
3) Uhh, it’s super fun.
Kind of like baking, you take ingredients or pieces and put it together to make something awesome. What was delivered in a flat box comes out a super cool chest of drawers ready for decorating with my Silhouette. If you haven’t built something with your own bare hands, try it. Find a project and do it on your own from start to finish. It’s fun! {And better if you can do it with some silly show on in the background}
Now, of course, there are many times in the midst of a project that I think it would be totally easier for my husband to help {or Pops}, but I need to do these things for my own pride {and again, the girls}. They can see images like Rosie the Riveter all day long, but until they see Mommy the Nailer {Probably not as catchy of a name} they wont understand what true equality is. Until then, I will still take those flat packages from the doorstop or load my SUV with plywood and 10ft 2X10’s to the brim and build my projects.
